Faith on Trial on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and on IowaCatholicRadio.com, examines the influence of law and society on Christianity and people of faith. "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Sacramento, CA—A federal court ruled
late Monday that a law requiring pro-life pregnancy clinics to promote abortion
can go into effect January 1st.Pacific Justice Institute represents three pregnancy clinics that are
challenging the law, AB775, on free speech and free exercise of religion
grounds.
In a 59-page order, U.S District Judge, Kimberly Mueller agreed with PJI that
the law raised "serious questions" about potential First Amendment
violations and would also cause irreparable harm to the clinics. However,
Judge Mueller determined that the interests of the clinics in refusing to
promote abortion were outweighed by the interests of the State to ensure women
receive information about all their options.

"This ruling should alarm everyone who believes in a robust First
Amendment," said Brad Dacus, Pacific Justice president and frequent FOT
guest. "The notion that the government can compel religious
non-profits to promote practices antithetical to their values is
chilling."

The Thomas More Law Center
(“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, MI, today,
filed a federal lawsuit against the Maine Attorney General, the City of
Portland, Maine and several Portland police officers to stop enforcement of a
portion of the Maine Civil Rights Act (“Act”). Under the Act, it is illegal to
make any noise that can be heard inside an abortion clinic after being warned
by a police officer. A Portland police officer officially warned Pastor Andrew
March that employees could hear his anti-abortion message inside their facility
and in so doing paved the way for a State lawsuit against him under the Act.

As a result, TMLC filed a lawsuit on
behalf of Pastor Andrew March to stop enforcement of the Act as a violation of
the First Amendment right to free speech. Pastor March is the father of three
children and the founding preacher of a church in Maine. He feels called by God
to oppose the culture of death and to work to end the murder of his fellow
citizens behind the walls of Planned Parenthood. When the Attorney General
filed a lawsuit against his friend and fellow preacher Brian Ingalls under the
Act, he took up his mantel and began to preach outside the Planned Parenthood
abortion clinic. Andrew March not only wants to save lives, but also wants to
give women a last chance to avoid the enduring physical and psychological harms
caused by abortion.

The Portland Planned Parenthood is
located on a busy public thoroughfare, which, in addition to usual street
sounds such as sirens, honking, and other traffic noises, hosts city parades
and protests by hundreds of
yelling and chanting people. Yet, among this cacophony of sounds, Planned
Parenthood claims the lone, unamplified voice of Andrew March interferes with
its abortion services.

Planned Parenthood, assisted by the
Maine Attorney General and the City of Portland, is using Maine’s Civil Rights
Act to silence all Pro-Life speech in front of its facility by claiming to hear
it within the building. TMLC’s lawsuit contends that the Act is an unconstitutional
restriction on free speech and is being used to target and silence the Pro-Life
viewpoint. In fact, amid the far louder traffic and city-approved parades,
police officers enforcing the statute admit that it is the Pro-Life content of
Andrew March’s speech that allegedly interferes with abortion counseling and
procedures within the building.

Richard Thompson, President and
Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, commented on the lawsuit: “Our
lawsuit is based on the bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment that
government, in this case the State of Maine and the City of Portland, cannot
ban Pro-Life speech just because they disagree with its content or find it
offensive.”

TMLC recently defeated a previous attempt by the same
Planned Parenthood facility to silence Pro-Life speech. On Oct. 8, the U.S.
District Court in Maine entered a consent judgment in which the City of
Portland agreed that their 39-foot “buffer zone” silencing Pro-Life speech
within the vicinity of Planned Parenthood was unconstitutional. In light of the
City’s defeat, Planned Parenthood and the City of Portland seem to be going
through a list of Maine’s laws to intimidate and silence Pro-Life speech. After
charging Brian Ingalls and warning Andrew March under the Act, police officers
are now threatening Andrew March with criminal charges for disorderly
conduct—all this despite the fact that both preach peacefully and respectfully
from the Bible.

Monday, December 21, 2015

You probably remember the saga of Richard and Betty Odgaard,
owners of the Gӧrtz Haus Gallery in Grimes, Iowa. For those of you who don’t
remember, the Odgaards, they owned a former church building that they had turned
into an art gallery that they rented it out for weddings.

Pastor Ryan Jorgenson

A strong Mennonite family, the Odgaards refused to rent
their facility for a same-sex ceremony and ultimately were put out of business
when the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, supporting the same-sex couple’s false
claims (they had already been married in another state, see our earlier post
here) effectively put the family out of business.

But God always has the last word. The building was turned
back into a church and has now generated a large congregation of largely
younger people. To discuss this turn around Tuesday will be Pastor Ryan
Jorgenson of the new Harvest Bible Chapel, which has risen from the legal
disaster foist upon the Odgaards by the militant homosexual movement and
abetted by biased members of the Civil Rights Commission. We’ll hear his story
and his special Christmas wish for our listeners. See the Harvest Bible Chapel
video below.

We’ll also have our monthly visit from our research
associate and movie reviewer Stephanie Crowley with a review of the movie “The Letters”
the story of Mother Theresa whom the church has just announced will be canonization
by His Holiness Pope Francis.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Dr. Church loses final appeal at hospital. Board of Directors upholds
physician’s expulsion for telling the truth about high-risk LGBT behavior to
colleagues

Dr. Paul Church

The cave-in at the major Boston Harvard-affiliated hospital
is complete. The Board of Directors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
(BIDMC) has formally notified Dr. Paul Church that they are upholding his
expulsion from the hospital and that his medical privileges there are
terminated.

His crime? As MassResistance has reported, Dr. Church,
a urologist who is also on the Harvard Medical School faculty, voiced concerns
to his colleagues about the hospital's aggressive promotion of LGBT activities.
He pointed out the long list of serious medical risks -- and also moral issues
-- associated with those behaviors.

The hospital never disputed the truth of Dr. Church's
statements. Nor did they claim that he ever discussed this with patients or
treated them differently. Instead, the hospital took extraordinary steps first
to silence him and then to expel him on a ludicrous charge of making
"offensive" remarks. Over months of hearings and appeals, the
hospital wouldn't relent.

In September Sean Ryan, MassResistance director of
communications, was our guest and told our listeners the Dr. Church story. See
our earlier post.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

ATLANTA – A federal court ruled Wednesday that an
Alliance Defending Freedom lawsuit filed on behalf of former Atlanta Fire Chief
Kelvin Cochran will go forward against the city for unjustly firing him because
of his religious beliefs. While the court agreed to dismiss some claims, the
court is allowing the lawsuit to go forward on Cochran’s primary claims of
retaliation, discrimination based on his viewpoint, and the violation of his
constitutionally protected freedoms of religion, association, and due process
(firing without following proper procedure).

At oral arguments in October before the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Cochran v. City of Atlanta, ADF
argued that the city’s arguments themselves confirm Cochran’s claim that the
city fired him for holding and expressing religious beliefs city officials
didn’t like.

“A religious or ideological test cannot be used to fire a
public servant, but the city did exactly that, as the evidence and facts of
this case clearly demonstrate,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, who
argued before the court. “We look forward to proceeding with this case because
of the injustice against Chief Cochran, one of the most accomplished fire
chiefs in the nation, but also because the city’s actions place every city
employee in jeopardy who may hold to a belief that city officials don’t like.”

“Tolerance must apply to people of different viewpoints,
not just those who agree with the beliefs the government prefers,” added ADF
Senior Counsel David Cortman. “Americans don’t surrender their constitutionally
protected freedoms when they become public servants.”

After activists who don’t agree with Cochran’s Christian
views on sex and marriage complained about a brief mention of the topics in a
162-page book Cochran had written on his personal time, Mayor Kasim Reed
suspended Cochran for 30 days without pay and announced that he would have to
complete “sensitivity training.” Reed then fired him, even though a city
investigation concluded that he did not discriminate against anyone. Public
statements Reed and City Councilman Alex Wan made late last year confirm the
truth about why the city fired Cochran.

“I want to be clear that the material in Chief Cochran’s
book is not representative of my personal beliefs and is inconsistent with the
administration’s work to make Atlanta a more welcoming city for all citizens…,”
Reed said in November of last year to explain why he suspended Cochran.

That same month, Wan told the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, “I respect each individual’s right to have their own
thoughts, beliefs and opinions, but when you’re a city employee and those
thoughts, beliefs and opinions are different from the city’s, you have to check
them at the door.”

Reed recounted in his 2014 State of the City Address that
he “begged” Cochran to return to Atlanta in 2010 from his job as U.S. fire
administrator in the Obama administration. Cochran agreed, and the city council
confirmed him to serve a second time as the city’s fire chief, a job Cochran
originally held from 2008 to 2009.

In 2012, Fire Chief Magazine named Cochran “Fire Chief of
the Year.” In a city news release issued about the award, Reed thanked Cochran
for his “pioneering efforts to improve performance and service within the
Atlanta Fire Rescue Department,” applauded “Chief Cochran and all of Atlanta’s
brave firefighters for the commitment to excellence shown throughout the
department,” and recognized that Cochran’s “national recognition” as Fire Chief
of the Year was “much-deserved.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

Monday, December 14, 2015

So what is wrong with teaching lawyers
Christian legal ethics? Everything, says the State Bar of Texas; the course is “too
religious”, says that distinguished body, composed of representatives of one of
the most maligned and perhaps ethically challenged professions in the nation.

Professor William Piatt

Last October St. Mary’s University School of Law, along with the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild of San Antonio, and the Christian
Legal Society of San Antonio, sponsored a continuing legal program entitled “Christian
Ethical Perspectives: Faith and Law Today.” The program was given a one-time
provisional accreditation by the Texas Bar. However, the Bar has now informed
sponsors that it will receive future accreditation only for those portions of
the program devoted to secular law and legal ethics.

That, of course, didn’t sit well with the
sponsors who have appealed the non-accreditation decision. Joining Deacon Mike
Manno and Gina Noll this week will be St. Mary’s Law Professor William Piatt
who told the Cardinal Newman Society that the Bar is going out of its way “to
make it impossible for Catholics to put on a continuing legal education program
that says anything about faith or morality.”

Professor Piatt specializes in constitutional
law and jurisprudence with a focus on Catholic perspectives. Prior to joining
the St. Mary’s law faculty he served as the assistant attorney general in New
Mexico and later as assistant public defender. He also created the
first-in-the-nation Center for Terrorism Law.

Join Deacon Mike and Gina Tuesday at 9 a.m.
(Central) on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming
live on IowaCatholicRadio.com. Unless pre-empted by Dowling Catholic
basketball, the program will be re-broadcast at 9 p.m.

Faith On Trial is sponsored by Attorney Rick McConville, Coppola, McConville, Coppola, Carroll, Hockenberg & Scalise PC
2100 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, 515-453-1055; Confluence Brewing Company
– off the Bike Trail just south of Grey’s Lake, 1235 Thomas Beck Road where
there is live entertainment in the tap room every Thursday, and Rob denHartog,Wealth Management Advisor at Northwestern Mutual Life, NW corner
of 128th Street and Hickman Rd, 515-210-4472.

speech and the free exercise of religious faith in the public square.
As legal counsel for the American Nativity Scene Committee (ANSC) and local
private groups around the country, the Society defends these rights and also
equips Americans to display nativity scenes in their State Capitols and in
other public venues that qualify as traditional and designated public forums.
This year, along with ANSC, Thomas More Society is co-sponsoring nativity
displays – which have been donated by an anonymous benefactor – in the State
Capitols of Illinois, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Georgia, and Texas, and at the
Governor’s Mansion in Oklahoma. Efforts
continue to secure permits for such displays elsewhere around the nation.

The
nativity displays represent classic free speech and free exercise of religious
faith by private citizens in the public square. These displays, however, have
not gone up without controversy.

“Atheist
groups may mock our message, but we will not be silent as it is critical that
Christians proclaim the Gospel message to their fellow citizens,” said Tom
Brejcha, Thomas More Society president and chief counsel. “Anti-Christian,
anti-Christmas rhetoric and Satanic expositions merely serve to provide sharp emphasis
by means of their stark contrast with the positive, uplifting, hopeful and
joyous message of Christmas – a message that bears secular as well as religious
significance, as it highlights the hope and miracle of birth and new life, the
inherent dignity of each and every human being, focusing our attention on the
humble and lowly infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger
amidst straw and animals, honored by shepherds and kings alike, and heralded by
choirs of angels. That message of the essential equality and dignity of
all human beings, no matter how rich or poor, humble or high-stationed,
resonates deeply with the values that Americans cherish.”

Last
Christmas, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) and ACLU tried to force
Franklin County in Indiana to dismantle the privately funded and privately
sponsored Nativity Scene that has been displayed on its courthouse lawn (in
addition to other private displays set up there from time to time throughout
the year) every Christmas for over fifty years. Thomas More Society defeated
FFRF and ACLU in federal court in Indianapolis, where the court rebuffed the
atheist groups’ legally baseless claim that this private display was an
“establishment of religion by the government.” On the contrary, the court
ruled that the Christian citizens had a right to display a Nativity Scene on
their local Courthouse lawn, which qualified as a “designated public forum.”

This
controversy is not a new. Almost thirty years ago, a lawsuit had to be
filed to protect the Nativity Scene (and to prevent physical destruction of the
statues) on Daley Plaza in Chicago, when city and county officials tried to
suppress the right of Christians to express their religious faith in that
traditional public forum, where political rallies ethnic celebrations and other
cultural events have been regularly staged. A private attorney, Jennifer
Neubauer, had to file suit and persuade the late Chief U.S. District Judge
James B. Parsons to enter a permanent injunction, enjoining the authorities
from this “discrimination” against religious expression on Daley Plaza.

“The
nativity displays represent a constitutionally protected expression by private
citizens in traditional or designated public forums, where the sole role of the
government is that of a viewpoint-neutral gatekeeper assuring open access for
all citizens to have their ‘say,’” added Brejcha. “If the First Amendment
entitles you to get up on your soapbox and plead for a candidate or advocate a
political point of view in a public forum, then equally you may get on the
soapbox and proclaim the joyous, hopeful message of the Christ Child!”

About
the Thomas More Society:

Thomas
More Society is a national not-for-profit public interest law firm dedicated to
restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered
in Chicago, the Society fosters support for these causes by providing high
quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up
to the United States Supreme Court.

About the American Nativity Scene Committee:

The
American Nativity Scene Committee is dedicated to the display of Nativity
Scenes in every State Capitol throughout the United States during the Christmas
season. The Committee ships nativity scenes (donated by a very generous
anonymous benefactor) to private citizens all over the U.S. who wish to bear
witness to the true meaning of Christmas by securing permits (with the Society’s
legal help, if needed) to set up a nativity scene in their local public square.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Why are persecuted Christians not able to gain refugee
status in the United States? News reports indicate that since 2011 less than
three percent of the 2,184 Syrian refugees allowed into the country were
Christian.And according to State
Department figures, 97 percent of the refugees resettled in 2015 are Muslim.
﻿

discussion
with Faith on a subject that is important to all Christians today, as well as
for our usual potpourri of news items of interest to people of faith. Faith On
Trial is heard every Tuesday at 9 a.m. (Central) on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150
AM; 88.5
& 94.5 FM and streams on IowaCathoilcRadio.com. Unless pre-empted by Dowling
Catholic Basketball, the program will rebroadcast at 9 p.m.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

This afternoon, Life Legal Defense Foundation’s lead attorney, and frequent FOT
guest Katie Short, appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit seeking a preliminary injunction against the Chief of Police and other
officers of the City of Jackson, Mississippi to protect the First Amendment
rights of pro-life speakers.

The case involves members of Pro-Life Mississippi (PLM), who have had a
presence on the public sidewalk of the state’s last abortion clinic for years.
During much of that time, they have been harassed, intimidated, threatened, and
even arrested by law enforcement officers. In December 2013, the police
arrested Harriet Ashley, who was 80 years old at the time, shackling her and
taking her downtown for booking. That’s when Life Legal said enough is enough
and filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking justice for those wrongfully
arrested and first amendment protection for those peacefully praying on the
sidewalk outside Mississippi’s last abortion clinic.

In 2008, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District
of Mississippi entered a consent decree against the City of Jackson and its
Chief of Police because of the Police Department’s pervasive policy of
violating the pro-lifers’ free speech rights. The Court went so far as to order
the City and the police department to attend training on the First Amendment
and to learn how to protect the free speech rights of citizens. However, the
discriminatory and unconstitutional enforcement of the law has not stopped.

Jackson law enforcement officers continue to impose
arbitrary and bizarre rules on the sidewalk counselors, including a “no touch”
rule that prohibits the group from resting their signs on the ground at any
time, even for a moment, and a “no standing” rule that requires them to
continually move about when they are near the gate of the abortion clinic.
Members of the group have been arrested for violating these so-called rules,
even though they are not codified in any state or local statutes. At the same
time, the Jackson Police Department enforced no such regulations against
pro-abortion protesters on the same sidewalk.

“The City is on a mission and, as evidenced by the 2008 consent decree, has
been for many years. Their mission is to discourage First Amendment activity,”
said Life Legal attorney Katie Short. “The City’s strategy has been to force
pro-life speakers into a game of ‘Mother, May I?’ with the police and then drag
the losers into court on frivolous charges. That game needs to end.”

The injunction would allow pro-life speakers to continue their lawful and
peaceful presence on the sidewalk without the threat of unwarranted and
unconstitutional police action directed against them.

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Faith on Trial is where we examine the influence of law and society on Christianity. Here we will look at those cases and events that impinge on the rights of Christians to fully practice their faith. Join us every Tuesday morning at 9 or listen to our re-broadcast Tuesday evening at 9 (Central). The program can be heard on IowaCatholic Radio: 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming on iowacatholicradio.com. Host is Attorney and Deacon Mike Manno.